Colfax weathered harsh attacks as vice presidential candidate

BACK IN TIME

BACK IN TIME

May 26, 2008|LIBBY FEIL

Part three of three With Republican Schuyler Colfax's nomination as vice president now official, the Democratic St. Joseph County newspaper, the National Union, began a direct anti-Colfax campaign in earnest. The Colfax-endorsed expensive and unsuccessful effort to impeach then-current president and Democrat Andrew Johnson was labeled "Colfax's pet scheme." The Union ran, without further confirmation, an anti-Colfax story that had originated with the Indianapolis Sentinel. Trying to turn Civil War veterans against Colfax, the story claimed that a veteran had tried to speak with Colfax but had been denied by Colfax, claiming he did not have time to waste on soldiers. Colfax immediately denied the story, sending denials to the Union and the Register detailing his donations to veterans' causes and his work on the Sanitary Commission (which had tried to improve the living conditions of soldiers in the field). The Union used Colfax's rebuttal against him, interpreting it without running the actual letter. Among other charges, the Union accused Colfax of cowardice for not serving in the military during the war, of violating the Constitution by trying to "muzzle the press," and of "deceiv(ing) unwary veterans (to) obtain their votes." The Republican St. Joseph Valley Register was staunch in its defense of Colfax. It ran another somewhat fawning "pen picture" of Colfax, whom its author describes as having a "pure, unaffected, radiant cheerfulness ... that keeps him as rosy and hopeful as a boy." The interviewer concludes that "at the base of this successful career we find neither wealth, chicanery, nor patronage, but good citizenship, faithful public service, steadfast self respect, and a cheerful temper." Perhaps in an attempt to counter the claims of the Union, which linked Colfax strongly with blacks, the report describes Colfax as saying, "I do not call negro soldiers better than white ones. If I were to express my own opinion it would be that those of my own color are better and braver." (Despite this statement, Colfax did do a great deal while in office to advance the status of blacks.) The next attack by the Union was clearly aimed at undermining Colfax's support among Catholics, who made up a large part of South Bend's population. The Union openly avowed that it was trying to ensure that Colfax suffered an embarrassing electoral defeat in his hometown. In late June 1868, the National Union reminded its readers that Colfax had been a "Know Nothing" 15 years earlier. The Know Nothings had been a short-lived political party in the mid-1850s. Their party platform advocated against slavery and alcohol, but also against immigration, especially by Catholics. To emphasize the meaning of Colfax's previous Know-Nothing affiliation, the Union actually incorporated a damaging Colfax quote into its masthead: "I once registered a solemn oath never to vote for a foreign-born man for any office under the American government, and to remove all foreigners, aliens, and Roman Catholics from office whenever I might posses(s) the power to do so." A writer for the Union satirized Colfax in the next edition with a tongue-in-cheek story of a crowd of German Catholic workingmen heckling the author when he tried to generate some enthusiasm for Colfax's candidacy. Out of the crucible of the tumultuous, hard-fought 1868 election, Ulysses Grant and Schuyler Colfax did become president and vice president. Their election did make a critical difference to the United States at this crucial moment in American history. It was during their time in office that the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gave blacks the vote, was proposed and ratified. President Grant did make some efforts to protect blacks who tried to vote as well. Unfortunately, the civil rights of blacks were once again abridged once Grant left office, and it would take another century for the civil rights movement to make permanent progress. Colfax himself did not fare well in the vice presidency. He became entangled in a huge political scandal and left office early. He retreated to South Bend a defeated man. However, he soon found that his skills as a public speaker were in high demand, and he spent the remaining years of his life traveling the country as an orator. When he died, his body was brought home to South Bend, where he still maintained a home, and he was buried in City Cemetery. Boosted by the St. Joseph Valley Register, attacked by the National Union, Colfax was neither the saintly figure presented by the former nor the manipulative liar portrayed by the latter. Politicians in the 1800s certainly had to weather much harsher attacks in that era's rough-and-tumble political climate than do today's candidates. So the next time you have to listen to an ad or read a circular accusing Clinton, Obama, or McCain of wanting to ship jobs overseas, of planning to leave people without health insurance, or of taking special interest money, just remember: it could be worse. Libby Feil is a reference librarian and is manager of Local & Family History Services at the St. Joseph County Public Library in South Bend.